The High'd Away
|My site is located near a very busy highway in Jersey City. It is in between a pencil factory and a whole block full of apartment buildings. Other than the hundreds of cars and trucks passing by every minute, the neighborhood itself is mostly quiet. Across the highway from the lot I chose, there used to be a parking lot that had walls full of graffiti. The graffiti on the wall weren’t just pointless words splattered on the wall, they were a piece of art. I myself have witnessed different artists come to the parking lot and have them spend hours working on these walls. But these walls have been taken down, the whole parking lot has been taken down actually for it is now a part of the highway and is currently under construction. My goal for this pocket park is to, in a way, bring back these walls or have a piece that will represent the art that once stood. There were two things that really caught my attention and they are the lights that shine from the ground and aim at a specific object such as a tree and the other was the chalk board that could be written on by visitors on what they’re goals and dreams are. Another idea that struck me was to put a structure in the middle of the park that is seen as a floating graffiti that’ll provide shade for the visitors that is underneath it but yet has spaces within the structure to let a bit of sun in throughout the day. My ideas for this pocket park are still growing but I know one thing for sure, I do not plan on placing a park that’ll change the way the neighborhood but instead enhance the beauty the neighborhood contains or in some cases, once did.
Comments
location is commendable
Very well designed park. I feel that the pictures need more explanations.
Dear Thea. I've enjoyed reading your Overview above. You have very clear ideas about what you imagine this new park to be / include. I love the ideas about floating graffiti or the community chalkboard. Your site analysis drawings in the Collect Overview step is also really strong - nice land use color coding and great solar path analysis!
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Unfortunately, I can't identify how you translated your cool initial ideas into a design solution. In the Brainstorm phase it would have been good to see your research of other parks around the world that utilize graffiti walls. Or parks that have a community collaborative art space. In the Final Design, you seem to have changed course, which is ok, but you haven't really told us about what features your new design includes. More explanation is needed to help us see how your final design helps solve the problems you fist outlined in the overview. Keep going! You're on the right track!